On Sunday Mornings at St. Margaret’s, the bread and wine of communion is joined with another kind of holy food—food for the poor.  Jesus told us that he would be present to us through the sacrament of Holy Communion and he also said that he would be present with us when we serve the needs of the “least of these.”  The people of St. Margaret’s are making themselves present to God in both ways by offering gifts of food to support families in need.

It all began with our Episcopal Youth Communities work to provide food for children who might go hungry over the weekend at our local elementary schools.  The youth group would gather food donations from the congregation and then package them to be sent home to kids in backpacks for the weekend.  This effort, initiated by St. Margaret’s member Terry Chacko and carried out in partnership with Highland Valley United Methodist Church has been a great success. 

When summer came and school was out, however, the needs of these children and their families did not go away.  Again, working with Highland Valley, St. Margaret’s rose to the occasion.  Following a model practiced in the earliest centuries of Christianity, food for the hungry is now brought forward with the bread and wine of communion. 

It is a sacramental act that allows us to be mindful of the needs in our community and our call to serve Christ among the poor.  This weekly effort is only the beginning of what we hope will be the ever deeper work of reconciling the broken divides in our community, especially the divide between those with more than enough and those without enough.